Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-04-02
"Was It for crimes that I had done,
He groaned upon the treei
Amazing pity, grace unknown,


And love beyond degree"
There is no woe amid the surroundings of
that scene that impresses me more than that
of His own mother. You need not point her
out to me. l can see by the sorrow, the an
guish, the woe by the upthrown hands. That
didn't she go down to the foot of the hill and
sit with her back to the scenel 1t was too
horrible for her to look upon" Do YOU
not know when a child Is in anguish
or trouble it always makes a heroine
Of a mother! Take her away, YOU
say, from the cross You cannos drag her
away. She will keep on looking; as long as
her son breathes she will stand there looking.
| Oh what scene it was for a tender-hearted
mother to look uponl How gladly she would
have sprung to His relief Il was her son.
Her son! How gladly she would have clam
bered up on the cross and hung there herself
| if her son could have been relieved. How
strengthening she would have been to Christ
ii she might have come close by Him, and
soothed Him! Oh there was good deal in
what the little sick child said upon whom
surgical operation of a painful nature
must be performed The doctor said THAT
child won't live through this operation unless
you encourage him. Yo go in and get his
consent" The father told him all the doctor
said, and added: snow, John, will you go
| through with it? Will you consent to it," He
looked very pale, and he thought a minute
and said; Yes, father if you will hold my
hand will" So the father held his hand,
and led him straight through the
peril. oh, woman, in your hour of
anguish whom do you want with you!
Mother. Young man, in your hour of trouble,
who do you want to csnsole youl Mother.
If the mother of Jesus could only have taken
those bleeding feet into her lapi If she might
have taken the dying head on her bosoml If
she might have said to Him: "It Will soon
be over, Jesus; it will soon be over, and we
will meet again and it will all be welln But
no. she dared not come up so close. They
would have struck her back with their ham,
merS. They would have kicked her down the
hill
There can be no alienation. Jesus must
suffer and Mary must look. suppose she
thought of the birth-hour in Bethlehem. I
suppose she thought of the time when, with
her boy in her bosom, she fastened on in the
darkness in the flight toward Egypt. sup
| pose she thought of His boyhood when he was
the joy of her heart. l suppose she thought of
the thousand kindnesses He had done her. not
| iorsaking her or forgetting her, even in his
] last moment, but turning to John and saving
There is mother; take her with you She Is
old now. She cannot help herself Do for
her just as l would have done for her if had
lived. Be very tender and gentle with her.
Behold thy motherln She thought it all
over. and there is no memory like mothers
memory, and there is no woe like mothers
woe.
remark again: This is tender scene be-
cause it is Christian reunion Why was il
that, in the seasonal meeting, when asked q
woman if it were her son who sat next to her.
making profession of his faith she made no
answer; but after moment, irving to con-
troll her emotion, she burst into tears. said
within myself, she need not tell me the story.
1t is the old story of a prodigal got back
The dead is alive again, and the lost is
found Oh, how many families there are
that rejoice together today
These Christians during the rest of the year,
! perhaps, Will not know much about each other
You go in one circle of society, and this one
travels in that path, and this one the other
path; but to-day we all come on one platform,
and we make one confession, and we
one death anguish. 1t seems to me this morn
ing not like church but like a great family
| circle, and we join hands around the cross of
Christ, and we say: Zone Lord, one faith
one baptism, one cross, one Christ, one dox-
ology, one heavenm While stand here it
seems 70 me as II this communion table, which
IS only seven or eight feet long and three or
feet wide, widens until all the Christians of
our own denomination can sit at it:
and still tho table widens until all the
Christians in this land of all names
and denominations come and sit at it;
'
/ sea, and Christians on the other side of the
Atlantic come and sit at it; and still that ia
Ole wldens, until the redeemed of heaven min
gle in the communion: Church militant;
church triumphant.
Zone army of the living God
To His command we bow;
Part of the host have crossed the flood,
! And part are crossing now"
| Again, my friends, this is an absorbing
|
/ memories. We look back and remember the
days OF our childhood when, long before we
knew the meaning of the bread and the wine
we sat in the side pews on Sacramental days.
or IN the galleries, and looked as our fathers
mothers, and older brothers and sisters sat at
the communion. Or, if we sat with Them
We pulled at mothers dress and said:
what does that meant What is that in
The cups What is that on the pater' O, yes:
we remember those Sacramento days of our
boyhood We remember how much more
tender father was on that day than on any
other day We remember how mother stood,
ana without saying one word looked at us,
and her eyes full of tears. Oh, the
dear old soulsl They have gonel But
until the day of our death we will associate
this holy ordinance with their memory
And when our work on earth is done we will
Just go up and sit down beside them in the
heavenly church. as we used to sit beside them
IN the earthly church, and then we will drink
new wine in our Fathers kingdom.
Behold the saints, beloved of God.
Washed are their robes in Jesus blood:
Brighter than angels, 10, they shine;
Their glories splendid and sublimen
remark again: This scene is tender today
because it is confessional You and l re-
member the time when if man had charged
us with anything like imperfection or wrong
doing, we would have thrown ourselves back
on our honor, and said: "You don't know
who you are talking to. shall resent such an
insult to my honor and integrity" We do
not feel that way to-day. As we gaze upon
the sacrifice of Christ, and think of what we
have been and what we have done.
our hearts melt within us. We see
one dying accursed for our sin, and we hear
Him in his dying words, begging for our ser
vice, and yet how little service we have rem
dered. OF this short life we have begrudged
tiod even fragment. Alasl Alasi Some
Of us haye livedou the most of our DAYS. and
yet we have rendered to God no earnest ser
vice Sad, that we could have so maItreated
Him on whom all our hopes depend. Oh, my
brethren and sisters in Christ. to-
Jay join hands with me in CON
session before Christi If there be
any place more humble than another, let us
AXE 1t. II there be any prayer more i'm
fortunate than another, let us breath il. II